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Vegan & Whole Wheat Nankhatai – No Maida, No Eggs Cookies

Vegan & Whole Wheat Nankhatai – No Maida, No Eggs Cookies

Soft but tender, flavorful & aromatic, lightly sweet, and eggless whole wheat Nankhatai cookies recipe. These Nankhatai are bakery-style cookies and their small size makes them look cute and pretty. These are Indian cookies that are made mostly by the street vendors on their big hot flat pan (tawa) or kadhai. But now these are sold in big bakeries too.

BEWARE! They can get addictive with just one bite 😀

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What is Nankhatai?

Nankhatais are shortbread cookies that originated in the Indian subcontinent. These are made with a mix of different flours, sugar, and clarified butter. But now you will get it in many different flavors. There are rose-flavored Nankhatai or coconut Nankhatai. They all are aromatic and taste very good. These are made smaller in size and that makes them cute and irresistible.

What is the texture of Nankhatai?

These cookies are buttery soft but tender enough to hold the shape and take a nice bite. These are not soft and chewy. You take a bite and it just melts in the mouth. These cookies don’t puff up much or increase in size. The addition of sooji makes it more crispy and you will have a grainy feel in the mouth. The cookies made with refined flour are much softer than the ones made of whole wheat flour. But whole wheat flour is a healthier choice and it gives a nice nutty kind of flavor in the cookies.

Since there are many different flavoring and aromatic ingredients in these cookies, the kitchen smells amazing when you bake them.

Tips to bake it right

  1. Flour: These cookies are generally made with refined flour, gram flour, and sooji. But I replaced the refined flour with whole wheat flour. It tastes good and the texture also comes out nice – soft but tender. You need to add more flavoring ingredients to whole wheat cookies than you add in the refined flour cookies.
  2. Sifting: Sifting dry ingredients is very important. Sometimes your sugar or flour contains some tiny lumps which are unnoticeable. And it gets difficult to form a smooth dough if they have any lumps. Especially, sugar lumps don’t dissolve while creaming it with butter. You will be able to see those lumps even in baked cookies. Hence, SIFT DRY INGREDIENTS.
  3. Room temperature ingredients: Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature. If your butter, flour, etc. are in the refrigerator, take them out at least 1 hr before baking.
  4. Creaming: For how long should we cream the butter and sugar? More than the time, focus on the texture. Whisk it well till you see a light-colored, creamy, foamy texture. If you need the time, then whisk by hand for around 5 to 7 minutes.

How to store these cookies?

You can put these cookies in an air-tight container and leave them on the counter for up to 7 days.

I live in Munich, Germany and the weather here is quite cold – 0 degrees Celsius or below. But the room temperature is not that cold. I kept them on the kitchen counter and they lasted for more than 7 days. They didn’t stale. I kept them in an air-tight container.

What happens if we overmix the cookie dough?

This is a big problem in making cookie dough. Often, we overmix the dough which results in hard cookies. When you overmix the dough, it forms gluten. And on baking, you won’t get that crumbly texture. It will be a little hard and snap on breaking.

Also, use a light hand while mixing the dough. Too much pressure often results in overmixing and gluten formation. I would suggest using a spatula for mixing because that helps a lot. And mix using the cut and fold method. In this method, you cut the dough using the spatula and then fold everything in. Then repeat the same until you don’t see any dry flour left in the bowl.

Can I use jaggery instead of sugar?

Yes. Of course. You can replace the refined sugar either with brown sugar or with jaggery.

Is this recipe Vegan?

Yes. This Nankhatai recipe is completely vegan and plant-based. But if you are not vegan, you can use the dairy alternatives of the vegan products.

Easy Swaps

  1. Whole Wheat Flour: You can use refined flour instead-but in that case the quantity of milk will change. Add accordingly. Click here for the refined flour Nankhatai recipe.
  2. Vegan Butter: You can use any other dairy butter
  3. Seasonings: You can add any seasoning or flavoring ingredient of your choice. You can avoid any of the flavoring ingredients added to the recipe.
  4. Milk: You can use any plant-based milk or any dairy alternative. You can even use water instead of milk.

More Cookie Recipes

  1. Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie
  2. Whole Wheat Gingerbread Cookies
  3. 5-Ingredient Oats Thumbprint Cookie

Now you are all ready to bake these delicious and gorgeous cookies at home. Once you bake these cookies, I can guarantee you that you will never ever buy any cookies from the market. Grab all the ingredients and bake them today. If you enjoy the recipe, please share it on Instagram and tag us too @marriedfriends. We love to see your recreation of our recipes.

Happy Baking & Merry Christmas.

Love from us

Richa & Jatin

Vegan & Whole Wheat Nankhatai – No Maida, No Eggs Cookies

No Maida. No Eggs. Vegan.

Tell us what you think

Soft but tender, flavorful & incredibly aromatic, eggless & vegan Indian shortbread cookie - Nankhatai.

These are not made with refined flour and that makes them even more addictive :) You must try it and I am sure after this you will stop buying cookies from the market.

25

Servings

30 min

Prep Time

30 min

Cook Time

1 hr

Total Time

Courses


Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

Garnish

Steps

  1. In a large bowl, add butter and sifted sugar. Whisk until they are light, creamy, and foamy in texture. It may take from 5 to 7 minutes.
  2. Sift all the dry ingredients in the same bowl. 
  3. Mix using the Cut-&-Fold method. Do not overmix. 
  4. When the dry ingredients are well combined in the creamed butter, add wet ingredients - rose water and milk. Mix again using the Cut-&-Fold method until all the dry flour gets combined. 
  5. Add milk in parts to avoid making the dough wet and sticky.
  6. Take a small portion of the dough (20 grams). Roll and shape it into a small ball. Gently press to flatten in a little. Put it on a tray and repeat the same with the rest of the dough. 
  7. Once all the cookies are shaped, brush them with some milk, add chopped pistachios, almonds, and rose petals at the center and gently press. 
  8. Refrigerate for around 30 minutes before baking. 
  9. Preheat the oven to 170 Degrees C. 
  10. Place the cookies on a lined baking tray and bake for around 30 - 35 minutes. 
  11. The time may vary depending on the thickness and size of your cookies.
  12. Once cookies get slightly baked, take them out and cool them completely on a cooling rack. Once cooled and crispy, enjoy these tiny pieces with some tea or coffee :)

FAQs

What is Nankhatai?
+

Nankhatais are shortbread cookies that originated in the Indian subcontinent. These are made with a mix of different flours, sugar, and clarified butter. But now you will get it in many different flavors. There are rose-flavored Nankhatai or coconut Nankhatai. They all are aromatic and taste very good. These are made smaller in size and that makes them cute and irresistible.


What is the texture of Nankhatai?
+

Nankhatais are buttery soft but tender enough to hold the shape and take a nice bite. These are not soft and chewy. You take a bite and it just melts in the mouth. These cookies don’t puff up much or increase in size. The addition of sooji makes it more crispy and you will have grainy feel in the mouth. The cookies made with refined flour are much softer than the ones made of whole wheat flour. But whole wheat flour is a healthier choice and it gives a nice nutty kind of flavor in the cookies.


What makes cookies tough and hard?
+

The most common reason for hard and tough cookies is over mixing the dough. Mix the cookie dough only till you don’t see any dry flour left in the bowl. Also, using a spatula to mix prevents gluten formation. Mixing the dough with hands may result in kneading the dough. If this forms too much gluten, you will get a tough cookie.


Why my cookies are dry?
+

If there is too much flour in the dough, the cookies become dry and they don’t taste good. To prevent that, measure all the dry and wet ingredients carefully. If after measuring everything accurately the dough still feels dry, add a little bit of extra liquid – 1 Tbsp at a time.


How to bake cookies without oven/microwave?
+

This is one question we get asked a lot. There are a lot of things that you can try.

  1. Pressure Cooker Oven – Heat salt or sand in your pressure cooker. Then place a ring and on top of that comes a plate/tray for baking cookies. Leave some space in between the cookies as they spread. Cover the pressure cooker without the rubber and whistle. Cook for a few minutes. Check and remove once they are perfectly cooked.
  2. Cast Iron Kadhai – It works the same as the pressure cooker. Just cover it up with a lid. Seal it well. It will work like an oven.
  3. Idli Stand – This is the easiest of all the methods. Put the cookies on each mould of the idli stand and cook them without any water or steam. It turns out absolutely good.

Hope that these methods will work for you. Happy baking.


What happens if I over-mix the butter cookie dough?
+
This is a big problem in making cookie dough. Often, we overmix the dough which results in hard cookies. When you overmix the dough, it forms gluten. And on baking, you won’t get that crumbly texture. It will be a little hard and snap on breaking. Also, use a light hand while mixing the dough. Too much pressure often results in overmixing and gluten formation. I would suggest using a spatula for mixing because that helps a lot. And mix using the cut and fold method. In this method, you cut the dough using the spatula and then fold everything in. Then repeat the same until you don’t see any dry flour left in the bowl.

Tell us what you think

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